The Priestess and The Knight
by Ryn Hallard
Summary: The priestess has discovered a plan to abduct the king but now her life is in danger! What would she do? Will the king protect her? Just who is that villain? AU and OOC alert! Mai-Otome fic. There isn't a 'Mai-Otome' category.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: A sneak peek I guess? Enjoy.

It was dark now. The priestess lay asleep on her bed, beads of sweat glittered her forehead. Her powers of prophecy have caused her much unneeded unrest. She did not like being a priestess, nor did she choose to be one. She had rather... I don't know. Marry a man? She had not thought much about what she would do if she had a life different from her current one.

She was a descendant of the mysterious bloodline of priests and priestesses. Like every noble family, her family had a hierarchy, and her parents were at the bottom. She would have been glad that that was the case, if not for the fact that her abilities were the strongest out of her siblings and her cousins. Before she learnt to speak, she had been made the next High Priestess, much to the disapproval of the higher ranked members of her family. One day, she would have to move into the castle to serve the King.

The petite girl stirred a little, her powers acting up again.

_Yukino Chrysant had not expected herself to be robed this time. In most of her prophetic dreams, she had not been clothed. A lack of people provided somewhat of a relief, though that did not mean she did not feel a little shy inside. _

_She was in a castle room. The walls were covered in grisly mould and unidentifiable luminous slime. There was an unfamiliar presence, a scent of diabetic sweetness that would send a wave of nausea over anyone's well-being. Yukino wondered how would anyone stand the overpowering fumes, let alone smile over the alchemy pot, humming a casual melody._

_Yukino watched as the robed figure let out a hand and it released strands of cobalt blue hair. The hand was surprisingly slender, unlike how Yukino imagined it would be. A soft giggle emanated from the figure._

_"You will be mine one day, King Kruger."_

_All of a sudden, beautiful orbs flashed from underneath the hood, boring holes into Yukino's. Caution echoed into the Priestess's mind._

_"Who's there?!"_

Olive green eyes reflected the ceilling of the shrine priestess's bedroom. A gut feeling tugged at her heart - the intuition of a priestess. Yukino sat up, her eyebrows furrowed trying to make sense of the dream. After a few minutes of silence, Yukino came to a conclusion.

_'Somebody wants the King.'_

A/N: Irregular updates from now on. My muse slipped away…again. So how was the story?


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark. The King and *cough* her *cough* trusted advisors were up, engaged in a weekly discussion of the country's problems. They were seated at a round table, beautifully crafted from the finest wood, fit for a king. King Kruger frowns as his ministers squabbled across the court like peasants in a price haggle.

Yes. The King, Natsuki Kruger, is a female. The throne she currently sat on once belonged to another patriarch whose kingdom was attacked and was slain by the ex-Princess's father, Freddy Kruger. He was feared greatly by his countrymen, for he ruled with unspeakable cruelty and had horrifying facial scars, the result of a life-threatening fire in one of his conquests.

Originally, Natsuki's older brother was supposed to receive the throne as a gift, but he had disappeared one fine night, just hours after refusing King Kruger's demand for him to swear his allegiance to his father after he ascends the stolen throne. Natsuki suspected that her father had relations to the matter but she dare not question. She was made the King instead, since she had no other siblings older than her.

Her gender did not seem to matter.

"Is that not why I suggested we increase the taxes on the peasants?!" The Head of the Secret Service, Tomoe Marguerite argued with the Chief Minister of Propaganda, Juliet Nao Zhang. She slammed the table to emphasise her point. People preferred to shorten Secret Service to 'SS', whereas Minister Zhang liked to call her 'Minister of aSS'. She shared the hobby with the peasants, some who disliked the teal-haired woman while many others simply found the prank title funny, so much so that there was a well-known joke about the Minister owning all the brothel houses in the country. It was a popular old wives' tale.

"Did I not tell you that increasing taxes will affect the image of the King?" Minister Zhang retorted, filing her nails coolly.

"But the country's finances are going to be in the red zone if nothing is done." Chief Minister of Finance, Chie Hallard, pointed out. Her beloved blue rose was directed at the country's much respected General, Midori Sugair. "Besides, doesn't anyone think that the Military have a budget a little too high?"

"Hold up, Hallard. We were just accessing the emergency funds to destroy the recent barbarians that were rampaging through the towns. Point that rose back at yourself." General Sugair stated steely, giving the Finance Minister a look. _'Don't mess with me, Hallard.'_

Returning the mysterious flower to her nose, Minister Hallard simply smiled in response, her vision fixated on her floral possession. Her senses were shut to all outside influences other than the alluring scent of the rose and when her eyes viewed the courtroom again, they landed on a pair of sapphire orbs, belonging to the Head of the King's personal guards, Aoi Senoh. She was standing beside the King's throne and a wink from the mischievous Finance Minister nearly sent her crashing into the King's throne in hopeless estacy. Only a light blush escaped her calm facade.

"So we shall increase the taxes on peasants, your Highness?" Minister Marguerite addressed the King, who seemed to be displeased.

"Didn't I tell you that it will affect the King's image?" Minister Zhang sighed, releasing a stream of air onto her newly filed nails. Perfect.

The meeting was, again, stuck in a cycle of argument. King Kruger was resigned to the constant bickering that brought about little to no positive changes in the kingdom.

She admitted that she was not good at the political poker games.

The kingdom's vault was running low on silver and only the efforts of the Minister of Propaganda ensured the slowed pace at which silver drained away. By maintaining the King's image as charming and successful alpha male, Juliet Nao Zhang had successfully given worldwide economy a run for its money with the ridiculous number of fangirls purchasing products of the king in a worshipper's frenzy. But that was not enough.

"Your Highness, it is rather late now. Perhaps we should end the day?" His eunuch, Takumi Tokiha, suggested. He was a weak and sickly youngster, surely unable to withstand the hardships behind the castle walls, much less those experienced by the eunuch of the King. However, what the King saw in the boy's eyes were much brighter than any of the candidates, hungry for the power of the almighty's eunuch. The next day he was made the King's eunuch, much to the disapproval of the boy's sister who happened to be the Chief Minister of Welfare, Mai Tokiha. Her brother's entrance into the kingdom only piled onto her many worries. The disappearance of the newest Chief Minister of Manpower, Shizuru Viola, did not help.

The King nodded lightly, his fingers rubbing his temples gingerly. He has had enough for a day.

"Discussion adjorned." Interrupted whatever the Head of the SS planned to say. A vein bulged on Tomoe Marguerite's pretty little temple but she said nothing. General Sugair got up and left the courtroom with a gruff, Minister Hallard followed right behind her but not without another wink to the poor Head of Guards, whose jellied legs would have sank her to the carpet floor if she had not forgotten to oil her armour's kneecaps the night before.

The rest of the Ministers left the courtroom eventually with the exception of Minister Tokiha, who was to attend to the King's need in person since her Takumi is a male, after all. She was one of the only few people who knew the King's true gender. Not all the Ministers knew that!

"Natsuki," the privileged Minister voiced out to the bothered King, "Do you need your medicine? I have it just right here..."

The King and Minister Tokiha were friends since childhood. Princess Natsuki loved to hang out with some of the Minister's children, namely Juliet Nao Zhang, Aoi Senoh and little Mai, as that Marguerite girl liked to call her. Mai liked the nickname, it made her feel cute. That was a backfired prank in little Tomoe's part.

"No, it's fine, Mai." The King replied, the fingers ceased the unneeded rubbing. "It was an act."

"You should not do that, you know? Rubbing your temples. You'll get a real migraine." Mai fussed over her friend as though she was a child, with her hand on her hip and the other wagging at the slightly regretful King. "_Where's the wood when you need it huh?" _She idly thought to herself. Mai noticed the change in behaviour, and promptly popped a couple of pills into the King's mouth.

"We should get you to bed immediately. You can turn in for the night too, Takumi. I'll handle her from here. Take your meds, keep yourself warm, drink the warm glass..."

"Okay, okay! Sheesh, sister, you're just like Mother." Eunuch Takumi joked and wished both his mistress and his sister a good night's sleep before leaving the courtroom.

"I don-!"

Natsuki's speech was cut off when sleep overtook her almost immediately. "_Those sleeping pills work like a charm." _Mai thought to herself. "I'll have to bother you again Aoi... Aoi?"

The guard was frozen, her facial features in a daze - a clear sign that she is either enchanted by a spell or a certain charming Minister. You could see the blush spreading over her cheeks to her ears. Blood trickled out from her nose.

"Minister Hallard!"

Aoi was thrown into a state of panic, wiping blood off her face. This was oddly similar to one of the scenes in her past fantasies. Fortunately or unfortunately, She noticed that there was no Hallard and felt a little embarrassed at her lost of control, her orbs pierced into Mai's, appearing a little miffed.

"Yes, yes Mai... I'll bring Princess Tomboy back. No worries." Aoi gave a thumbs-up to the giggling Minister. She threw her king over her shoulders like a sack and promptly exited the courtroom, following Mai's route to the King's quaters.

_"That was not good."_ The hooded woman thought to herself, pacing up and down her alchemy room. She felt a presence earlier, and that could spell disaster for her fate and was now expecting her little hut to burst into flames anytime soon.

_"Could it be Seer Santos? No... It didn't seem like it."_ She marked off the possible names that could have trespassed into her spell barrier by accident. Soon, she was only left with one: _"Priestess Yukino Chrysant."_

Yukino is a rather well-known prodigal priestess, believe it or not.

_"Yes, it could have been her. Children usually aren't able to control themselves... Especially the prodigies."_ The woman concluded.

_"Curiosity kills the cat."_


End file.
